Wildcat teams suffer rocky start
The Presque Isle baseball team’s offense struggled mightily in its first four games of the season.
The Wildcats did not score a run while managing a total of six hits over 21 innings in their first three contests, which were played on the road against Hermon in a doubleheader Thursday and Old Town on Saturday. PI did manage to score three runs on four hits in the game two loss to the Coyotes.
Against the Hawks, Nick Guerrette tossed a three-hitter as the ’Cats opened with a 4-0 loss. Sam Gray had a double to lead PI at the plate. In game two, Zachary Nash retired all 21 batters he faced in a perfect game as Hermon prevailed in the nightcap, 6-0. Nash struck out 10 Wildcat hitters in the dominating performance.
On Saturday, Old Town recorded a 6-0 victory in the first game of the afternoon. Cooper Madore doubled and singled for the Wildcats. Presque Isle also fell in game two, 6-3, as Gray had a pair of hits and Adam Paterson and Jonah Hudson chipped in with one each.
The PI softball team, fresh off its spring break trip to Florida, also opened the regular season with four consecutive losses. The Wildcats were overwhelmed by Hermon Thursday, falling by scores of 13-1 and 14-0. Taylor Williams had a single in each game to lead PI’s offense, while Sydney Thompson managed the team’s only other hit in the two games.
Against the Coyotes Saturday, PI came close to pulling off its first victory in the second game of the doubleheader, leading by a run with two outs in the sixth inning, but Old Town rallied for four unearned runs to come away with a 7-5 triumph.
The Wildcats were behind but had taken a 4-3 lead in the top of the sixth thanks to a run-scoring single off the bat of freshman second baseman Emma Bouchard, who also scored on the play thanks to a pair of OT throwing errors. But the host Coyotes came back in the bottom of the inning by also taking advantage of some defensive mistakes.
Jillian Flynn had a pair of doubles, while Bouchard and Alyssa Trombley notched two hits each for PI, which outhit Old Town, 9-7.
In the first game, the Coyotes prevailed, 13-7, as Flynn notched three hits to lead the Wildcat offense and Thompson added two more. Old Town scored multiple runs in each of the first five innings to take control, while PI’s big rally came in the fifth when four runs crossed the plate.
Thompson had complete games on the mound in both ends of the doubleheader. She walked seven batters in game one but settled down to allow only one base on balls in the second contest.
The Wildcat teams will play their first home games Thursday at 4 p.m. against Fort Kent before returning to the road Saturday to take on Mount Desert Island in a twinbill.
